BP Expecting bigger earnings in 2018

BP is expected a higher post-tax earnings in 2018 thanks to corporate tax changes for 2018, it said today. Lowering from 35% to 21% is good news for corporations. Everyone looks to behemoth BP as a benchmark or as a omen of how things are going to go.P shares (NYSE:$BP) might like this 2018 prediction. Already up in after-hours.

BP also said it will incur a one-off charge of $1.5 billion (wowzers) on 2017 Q4 results. Not sure the details of this one-off charge. Can anyone elaborate?

All the headlines are focusing on this one-off charge, except for Reuters and some conservative outlets, which are focusing on BP's rather rosy 2018 outlook based on the tax reform.

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Rosy always makes for a better headline. But the new corporate tax means BP has to revalue its US deferred tax assets and liabilities, and that is going to result in an estimated $1.5 billion one-off charge. So in the near-term, it's not very rosy. Stocks are up on headlines of the corporate tax reduction in general, but I suspect a lot of investors aren't going to be liking this because of what it will do to Q4 results.